Volcanic ash

Nasa

As you all know, due to the Icelandic "EYJAFJALLAJOKULL" volcano many flights in Europe are cancelled.

Volcanic ash represents a real danger in aviation today. They can cause the shut down of the engines, malfunction of the instruments(due to sensors blocking), cover the cockpit windows making it impossible to see anything, among other things...

There were some incidents in aviation history caused by volcanic ash, being "Speedbird 9" flight in Indonesia the most famous of them all. During that flight, all 4 engines of a BA B747 were shut down. Fortunately they were able to restart the engines and land safely at Jakarta airport. After the accident all 4 damages had to be replaced due to the damage caused by the volcanic ash. It's quite amazing how the engines restarted and kept working with that kind of damage. The next videos show how the incident developed. Enjoy!